The Pickers’ Train

Luis, Luigi and Mary Lou
Tom Dick and Harriet Dimitri too
Standing on the platform in the Melbourne rain
Waiting to join the Pickers’ Train
Cuban crisis Bay of Pigs
Dimitri’s handing out the cigs
Anything’s better than the old dole queue
Says Luis to Mary Lou

Hit Mildura in the early morn
15 nations in the bleary morn
Sign language in the station yard
Striking a deal was not too hard
Year after year the same pickers came
Blockies called out their family names
Batista Marotta how you going old son
Hands were shaken and a deal was done

Pietro sat me on his knee
He taught me the Italian for 1,2,3
His wife was sick they wouldn’t let her go
So she and the kids were in Palermo
Pietro taught me to ride a bike
He taught me what true friendship’s like
Picking and spending that time with me
Meant cash to send to his family

Rita lived on the picking trail
She’d follow the harvest around by rail
She could pick faster than any man could
So Rick fetched the buckets like a good man should
Who’ll forget the day their child was born
Rita was picking next day at dawn
The baby’s in a cradle at the end of the row
She’d feed the kid and then on she’d go

Saturday night and the picking’s done
Time for a dance and a bit of fun
Waltzing kissing rock and roll
Until the drinking took its toll
Then it’s back to Melbourne for another year
Say Goodbye maybe shed a tear
Arrange to meet same place again
See you next year on The Pickers’ Train

Score to be added